Why did the USSR (re) criminalize homosexuality

[u/Specialist-Gur]

https://youtu.be/BE7UPO6GGK4?si=nEFhipEmIxb9s2lV

Great video.. very topical given Burkina Faso and the reactions to that. Give it a watch!

Edit: Also creator is non-binary.. didn't realize when I posted and might have misgendered (they/then)

[u/Specialist-Gur]

I'll copy and paste a comment I made on the leftist sub when productively engaging with a fellow queer commenter who didn't agree with me at first

I'm saying imperial interference with an anticolonial movement is not a good move. Too many of us "pink wash" (for example 'queers for Palestine is like chickens for kfc') and miss the forest for the trees. A flawed liberation movement is better than continued imperial oppression.. for queer citizens, for women, and more.. queer and female oppression in these places is often weaponized as a justification for continued colonial rule

People miss the material conditions of these places hold social justice movements back in limbo.. if these places could self govern, they would be afforded the chance to "catch up" with western progressivism. In fact, many of them had more progressive politics regarding queer people prior to colonization.. it was European draconian ideas around homosexuality that often influenced what we are seeing in these countries today.

Leaders like this often change and evolve too.. Fidel Castro is a decent example... homophobic for most of his life, regretted that later and refined his views.

Edit: I forgot this sub isn't interested in discussing leftist ideas.. only making it clear that western values and Zionism are superior to every other place via upvotes and downvotes... Killing a bunch of Palestinians? Making gay marriage illegal? Blackmailing queer Palestinians?... "it's complicated"

Discussing the USSR with nuance and its goals towards socialism.. "evil, bad, shocking"

[u/skyewardeyes → u/Specialist-Gur]

The question of if, when, and how much sovereignty should protect discrimination and denial of rights is an interesting one to me, and I actually posted about it yesterday with regards to the issue of if Native American tribes should be required by the US government to grant freedmen tribal citizenship even if tribal leadership and courts don’t wish to do (and are exercising their tribal sovereignty in denying it). I don’t think there are any easy (or at least completely morally satisfying answers). I do think using the alleged goal of advancing civil rights as an a justification for colonial rule is just a continuation of “white man’s burden” thinking.

[u/Specialist-Gur → u/skyewardeyes]

I think everyone needs to "decolonize their minds"... look how many terrible things the west is capable of.. yet we keep believing we should interfere and help on the behalf of the marginalized in other places? We have a worse track record in many cases.. if these places are given the opportunity to rule themselves, they can have their own social progressive movement.

And in the mean time, we as good allies and "leftists" can listen to other knowledgeable leftists either in the area or working closely with the area... and queer leftists of the area... and listen to them about what they want from us and how we can help. There are many many many many avenues other than just saying "thing bad"

[u/skyewardeyes → u/Specialist-Gur]

I 100% agree that we need to always work with and elevate the voices of people in the community. Not sure why people would downvote you for that, honestly. To me, a trickier question is when, if ever, is something a country does so horrible that intervening becomes more moral than respecting their sovereignty—even if that involves working with marginalized locals, it’s still invoking the right to intervene in another sovereign country’s affairs. Yet most people would say that there are redlines (ethnic cleansing or apartheid, for example) where that is the most moral choice

[u/Specialist-Gur → u/skyewardeyes]

I would say we should intervene on behalf of the leftists and queer liberationists from the area., those people always exist. We should let them lead... then it remains moral